Unlike Microsoft’s monumental NXE update, Sony likes to provide far less exciting, incremental firmware upgrades to its console. Most of the time they are only there to rename the odd setting, or add a pause button that only nine members of the PS3 owning public will ever actually notice. This time there’s something worth a mention though: support for full-screen Adobe Flash content.
In theory, the inclusion of full-screen Flash will make the PS3 ideal for browsing YouTube and the like. Hell, there’s enough amusing, factual, pirated and entertaining junk out there online to do practically away with your digi-box.
In practise though, the PS3 web browser is a real hog. It’s a not particularly easy to use, it’s slow and, for us at least, it drops an obnoxious “Out of memory” message after about ten minutes of browsing.
We’re hoping that these are issues that Sony has on its to do list for fixing at a later date, but frankly, we can live without it right now – that is, after all, why we own laptops and netbooks.
But there’s another potential use for the full-screen Flash mode – BBC iPlayer. Auntie’s online web streaming service has been promised for the PS3, following a successful launch on Wii. It has now been in the works for bloody ages, but we’ve seen precious little sign of it. Could the Flash upgrade and full-screen mode be paving the way for a proper PS3 iPlayer launch? Fingers crossed.
As of the time of writing, the update hasn’t landed, but it is expected to go live later in the day.
Out now | Free | PlayStation (via CVG)
